British Isles Brilliance of the Seas Review May 15 - 28/18

Hello!It's been many years and several cruises since I've written a post-cruise review but as thisitinerary is rare on Royal I thought it would be worth taking the time to do arecap for anyone considering this itinerary in the future.

On this cruise, itwas only myself (turned 43 the day we left- happy birthday to me) and hubby (42) ona kid-free vacation.

PRE-CRUISE

We flewout of Toronto on Saturday night, flying through the night and landing inAmsterdam on Sunday mid-morning local time. Regrettably we were unable to sleepat all on the flight so we were very zoned out for the remainder of the day butwe made it our mission to stay up until at least 8:00 pm.

We hadbooked the Mercure Canal Centre hotel for our two nights pre-cruise which waswell located for the activities we had pre-booked. The distance away fromCentral Station coupled with our exhaustion made us decide to take a cab to thehotel which was quite costly (47 euros or $68 Canadian) but we were just happyto be there.

We spentSunday afternoon exploring the city by foot and despite our exhaustion, we werecompletely taken with Amsterdam. The beautiful canals, charming architecture,cobblestone streets and our complete fascination with the dominance of thebicycle really impressed us right off the bat. We ended up walking the streetsfor hours, popping into various shops and taking lots of photos along the way.

We hadlimited time in Amsterdam but wanted to make the most of it, so we hadpre-booked the Heineken Experience for Sunday night, and then both the Van GoghMuseum and Rijksmuseum for our only full day in the city, Monday.

I wouldrecommend all three of these activities. Our only fault perhaps was that wedidn't allow sufficient time in the Rijksmuseum and were hustled out bysecurity when they closed at 5:00 pm, which we thought was a little early. Inany case, this left us with just enough time to make it to a small boat canalcruise that gave us a new perspective of the city and again, this is somethingthat I would highly recommend. The small boat allowed us to explore some of thesmaller off-shoots of the canal system that a larger boat wouldn't have beenable to get to but no doubt, even a larger canal cruise would be time wellspent.

Afootnote on the hotel: I had originally wanted to book the Movenpick at thecruise terminal. I thought it would allow us to take the train from the airportand also make boarding the ship easy. However the price got too exorbitant andso I started looking for an alternative. The Mercure ended up being absolutelyperfect for what we had booked. We were able to walk to Heineken and the canalcruise (under 10 minutes) and were also able to easily walk to the museums,which conveniently are beside each other (15 minutes). We were also withinfairly easy walking distance to shops/restaurants (25 -30 minutes to majorspots like the 9 Streets.

We feltvery comfortable in Amsterdam. English is widely spoken so there were nolanguage issues whatsoever. We walked everywhere we went, as late as 10:30 pmand felt very safe. We hope to have the opportunity to go back to Amsterdam inthe future and further explore this beautiful city and the surrounding area.

BOARDING

QuicklyTuesday morning arrived and it was boarding day! We did debate the best way toget to the pier from our hotel which, while convenient to the activities we haddone the previous day, was likely to be at least an hour's walk to the port. Iwas reluctant to spend another 50 euros so we elected to take the tram toCentral station and walk from there (although we could have hopped on a secondtram from Central to the cruise terminal). The tram stop was just a fewminutes' walk from our hotel and luckily some of the doors open to a flat entry(others have stairs) so we were able to easily heft our luggage aboard (we hadone backpack each and one large suitcase on wheels each). The tram ride tookabout 15 minutes to get to Central station and we were finally able to get downin to the "Dam" section of town that we hadn't gotten too yet. We brieflydiscussed whether we should tour this section of the city before boarding butgiven that we had our luggage, we decided to just press on.

It was abeautiful day so we decided to simply walk to the port from Central stationrather than wait for the connecting tram. This took about 25 minutes but it wasa lovely walk, especially once we got down to the waterfront and got our firstglimpse of the Brilliance. We entered the terminal and handed our baggage offto a young man. I had some euros out to tip him with but after he loaded up ourbags, he turned away from me and left the baggage area to go do something else.It really struck us how the Dutch just don't expect to be tipped - something weare most definitely not used to.

Weproceeded upstairs as directed and encountered... a seating area to wait inbefore queuing. We overheard at least two couples complain to the ladydirecting us that they were Diamond members and had priority boarding, to whichthe lady replied that the Diamond member queue was full and they just had towait it out. Turns out this cruise had a huge amount of Diamond and DiamondPlus members (according to a lovely couple we had the good fortune of chattingwith one day who themselves are Diamond members) so there was no expeditedprocess for anyone.

We satfor at least half an hour before we were made to line up. This process wasextremely slow with the line taking us just over an hour to clear. It wasunfortunately very hot in the terminal which made the wait unpleasant. By far this was the longest embarkationprocess we have experienced. Not sure if it was just the smaller size of theterminal, the fact that RCI doesn't cruise out of it frequently or what butclose to two hours to board from the time we initially arrived to drop ourluggage was long, especially since we had arrived as instructed (which Ithought was supposed to help with congestion at in the terminal).

CABIN

Wehadn't had an inside cabin in many cruises but wanting to have more money tospend onboard and in port so we elected to be cost conscious and booked cabin#8629. It turned out to be an excellent choice. We were very centrally located,only needing to go up a few floors to get to the Windjammer and pool deck andonly needing to go a few floors down to get to the dining room, Centrum andshow venues.

Thecabin itself is in good shape and is a suitable size for two. It would havebeen snug if we had brought some of our kids with just the two of us we were verycomfortable. It was very sound proof - the only noises we heard from eitherneighbour was flushing the toilet, phone ringing and the occasional drawerbeing opened and closed. There would occasionally be noise from the hall butnothing intrusive.

We hadthe cabin configuration of the bed being immediately opposite the door whichmeant that when we were lying down, we were moving sideways. We did notice thatsome of the other inside cabins on our deck had the bed with the head in thesame direction as the ship was moving, rather than sideways like ours. Therewas a two-seater couch with a small coffee table and plenty of storage oppositethe couch with drawers, safe, vanity and desk. There was also a large closetimmediately on the right when entering the cabin opposite the washroom, whichwas compact but sufficient for our needs. Maybe my memory is going, but I feltas though the shower was small compared to those we've had on more recentcruises. I would say it was tied with the two Princess ships I've been on forsmallest.

Ourstateroom attendant Jackson was friendly and efficient. Our room was alwaysclean and properly stocked with clean linens with several adorable towelcreatures throughout our cruise. We had no need to make any special requestsbut he was always checking in with us to ensure we were happy and hadeverything we needed.

Excellent start! I'm on Brilliance for the June 21 UK sailing so this is very timely.

Your info about the port upon embarkation (slow and hot) is priceless so thank you very much.... were you the first sailing after the TransAtlantic? That could've been a huge part of the delay (ship inspections, changing of staff, "zero" count of the ship, etc)

I too plan on taking tram to Centraal and then either walking or taking #26 tram to the port... it was great to hear your version and how easy it was.

Excellent start! I'm on Brilliance for the June 21 UK sailing so this is very timely.

Your info about the port upon embarkation (slow and hot) is priceless so thank you very much.... were you the first sailing after the TransAtlantic? That could've been a huge part of the delay (ship inspections, changing of staff, "zero" count of the ship, etc)

I too plan on taking tram to Centraal and then either walking or taking #26 tram to the port... it was great to hear your version and how easy it was.

I believe we were the second sailing after the crossing as there had been a Baltic cruise before ours. It really is very easy to get around in Amsterdam - just be sure to have your head on a swivel for the cyclists as they rule the road.

I'm sure you will thoroughly enjoy your cruise as we did! Happy sailing!

Just noticing that some of the words fused together on my cut and paste job for my first posting - I will try to correct this moving forward.... speaking of which....

FOOD

OK let's get serious here. I have heard throughout the years various comments about the quality of food on most lines being in decline. My husband and I are not fancy gourmands by any stretch. I have several food sensitivities/allergies that leave me with less options than hubby but I was able to always find something to eat, even if I had to revert to the always available menu. I did hear a few fellow cruisers complain that the menu was getting too repetitive as the cruise wore on. Several people were doing the Baltic and UK cruise back-to-back and I wonder how they felt.

In any case, the first three nights we did specialty dining. I had pre-booked the BOGO 2 for 1 dining package for two nights ahead of time and immediately after boarding locked in the first two nights of the cruise at Chops. I was not disappointed. I had the same filet both nights and they were fantastic. Hubby had the filet the first night and the salmon the next and said they were both excellent. Best meals of the cruise, hands down. We were talked into going to Giovanni's the third night which I was reluctant to do. I remember on the Oasis that we didn't care for the food at Giovanni's but hubby was super gung-ho to do it so we went. Loved the bread and olives, and the tiramisu was excellent. Hubby had the filet and rated it as excellent while I had the Osso Bucco. Although mine was very flavourful I found it far too fatty and rich and simply couldn't finish it.

The rest of the evenings we had dinner in the main dining room with anytime dining. I had pre-booked all our meal times but on several occasions we did go in early in order to make a show time or other activity that we wanted to attend. Only on one occasion did we have to wait when we tried to go ahead of our scheduled time. Otherwise, we were seated quickly. We did go after 8:00 on the last two nights and the dining room was significantly less busy with the wait staff being free to be able to spend more time chatting with us which I always enjoy.

Hubby's favourite main courses were lobster, ravioli and lasagna. He enjoyed all his apps except for the scallops which were served like escargot and make up one of two food disappointments of the cruise (the other was the lack of what he deemed "soft, fresh" cookies). I particularly enjoyed the porkloin and several chicken dishes that I had.

We ate every breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer. There were always lots of hot and cold options at both mealtimes but we kept it pretty simple here. We were indulging quite a bit at dinner so our lunches in particular usually ended up being very reasonable with lots of salads and sandwiches, and the occasional burger or pasta thrown in. Breakfasts ranged from cold or hot cereal to omelets and the ever popular loaded plate of waffles, bacon, hash brown and sausage. There was also a nice variety of fresh fruit and very tasty fresh juices(labelled smoothies) each morning.

After lunch and dinner we always seemed to make room for dessert despite never actually being hungry. We never found a cheesecake we didn't like aboard and I had a mission to try them all as often as possible. I have been in withdrawal since coming home. Other highlights were the tiramisu at Giovanni's, the"Opera Slice" at Cafe Lattitudes and the pecan tart in the dining room.

We never went hungry, and were very happy with our meals.

THE SHIP, STAFF and FELLOW PASSENGERS

The ship is beautiful. I wanted to cruise aboard the Radiance of the Seas when she first debuted and never had the opportunity so I was very excited to try one of her sister ships. Although I heard several people complain about how small the ship was, I thought it was the appropriate size for this type of a cruise.

The atrium is absolutely stunning and I would pick a ship like this every time over the huge monoliths they are building today that have closed in centrums (ie. Oasis, Escape). The wall of glass meant that we had gorgeous views of the beautiful UK islands no matter where we were in the Centrum area. Very impressive.

The ship's layout is simple and that made it easy to learn and easy to get around.The biggest design flaw is making people have to cross the casino to get to the front of the ship, including the pub, cinema and theater. We would change decks just to avoid having to go through this area. It was gross and reeked like a stale ashtray. This was also the first time that we didn't spend a single cent at the casino as hubby does like to donate money to the Blackjack table, he just wasn't willing to put up with the cigarette smoke to do it. This is not a problem unique to the Brilliance of course, but it did keep us out of the casino.

We were always able to find a seat for shows and activities, regardless of whether it was in the main theater or one of the smaller venues and never had an issue getting a table at the Windjammer although often we ate in the outdoor area where "Rita's Cantina" is set up (this restaurant was not open and serving food during our cruise).

The staff we encountered throughout our cruise were very pleasant, seemed happy and were friendly. Our Cruise Director was Abe Hughes and he was ok. As my husband put it, he is "straight out of central casting" and looks the part.He came off a bit too inauthentic and cheesy for our tastes but we really only ever saw him at the big theater shows and didn't personally interact with him at all.

I would estimate that 85% of the passengers were over 55, with 10% being in the 30 - 55 range and 5% being under 30. I did see about 10 kids around throughout the cruise so there were some families aboard. As mentioned, there appears to have been a large number of Diamond and above members so a lot of very loyal passengers who have cruised extensively with Royal.

ENTERTAINMENT

Overall the entertainment aboard was quite good. We enjoyed the trivia and made an effort to make it to a large variety of them as they are generally fun and entertaining. The live music in the Centrum was always good and varied with different acts through the day. They hosted a large number of activities here as well as parties (ie. 80s night party and silent dance parties were held here). We really enjoyed the live music throughout the ship, whether it was the live piano or piano and string trio in the Schooner Bar or the three piece band or solo guitarist in the Centrum and pub. It was particularly nice to hear alive orchestra every evening at all the shows. They were incredible and I was so impressed with how quickly they were able to accompany the acts that boarded the ship to play a few shows only. Speaking of which, all of the acts that were brought on board were incredibly good. We thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. Abbamax was just plain fun. The magician was mind blowing (and hubby,who is an amateur magician himself, ended up being part of the act and is still trying to figure it out), the two pianists were incredibly talented and the Motown Act was really good.

The two company shows they put on were good but seemed a little disjointed to me. Although the first one we saw had a theme of musicals, they were pieces I wasn't overly familiar with and the pieces together didn't have a cohesive theme so I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. The second show we caught was just all over the place musically. I couldn't get over hearing a Queen song and a jazz number in the same show. The singers and dancers were very talented but the shows themselves I would rate as good but not outstanding.

THE PORTS

OK -this is what this cruise was really all about - the wonderful ports. They did not disappoint. I will walk through each port and the tour experience as we purchased all but one of our excursions through the ship.

I pre-purchased all our excursions prior to sailing and all our tickets were waiting for us in our stateroom upon boarding. Each ticket had our names on them as well as instructions for where and what time to meet at. Make sure you read these carefully. We were lulled into thinking we would always have to meet in the Pacifica Theater but on a few occasions, we actually had to meet on shore.

Edinburgh: Tender port. They were using both larger local boats as well as the ship's tender boats to get us to shore. We met in the Pacifica where we would show our ticket, get a sticker for our tour group and then wait to be told to proceed ashore as a group. Our group caught one of the large local boats so getting to shore was quite painless. Probably took about 15 minutes as we were anchored a bit away from the actual dock. We were greeted by bagpipes and drums as we made our way to our tour bus.

We had booked the "Panoramic Edinburgh" excursion because we wanted to get the flavour of the city which we had been told was very beautiful. For this excursion we loaded up into a very comfortable coach and then made our way on a comprehensive tour throughout the city. We made a quick pit stop at a mall to use the washroom (which was a bit odd, yet appreciated as most of us took advantage of the facilities), stopped at the Palace of Holyrood House (but couldn't enter as they were in session) and also had another photo stop . The rest of it really was scenic as well as getting the low down on the history of the city and local area from our very knowledgeable tour guide. Once back in the port area, we simply walked into the town near that port and had a look around before heading back to the ship.

Inverness/Loch Ness: Here we had booked the "Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness" tour. This is a tour we really enjoyed as the castle ruins are quite fun to explore and the area is just stunning to view. We easily could have spent another hour at this location but we did feel that we had sufficient time to get in a good visit. There is a neat little movie that shows you the history of the castle and how it had evolved and grew over the years to how it had been left in shambles. We were then left to our own devices to tour and we primarily explored on our own. There were guides at the ruins but with limited time, I didn't want to waste any waiting around for anything official to get started. There are sufficient markers that explained what we were seeing and its time period so I still felt as though we got enough of the context to appreciate what we were seeing. The drive there was also quite stunning, if not moderately terrifying. Our driver was no slouch on the gas pedal, the roads were narrow and winding and frankly, I was still adjusting to driving on the opposite side of where my brain was telling us we should be. I noticed several other bus mates also holding firmly to the handle on the back of the seat ahead of them as I was doing so I don't think I'm the only one who was a little antsy with our driver at the helm. We did make it back to the port in one piece however but decided not to venture out into Inverness proper as fellow passengers on the tour had asked a few locals and they were advised not to bother. I suppose we'll never know what we missed out on but it was extremely picturesque and a stunning sail away.

Greenock (for Glasgow): The only tour of Glasgow proper on offer by RCI was "Glasgow on your own" or basically - buy our shuttle into town since the port of Greenock is about 40 minutes away. I know that industrious folks were also using the train to get into the city, and apparently this is quite easy to do. After looking through the RCI offerings,we decided to book the tour to Stirling Castle, which is also available as a tour out of Edinburgh. My brother, who took his Master's at University College London had mentioned this castle as one not to be missed so we were pretty excited for this tour. I have to admit that I ended up being highly irritated on this one by what I would consider poor time management on the part of the tour company. I debated whether or not to complain to the Excursions Desk and in the end decided to let it go. We took the meandering route to the castle,which provided us with lovely country views and gave us ample time to learn the history of the local area were travelling through, but also took an hour and 45 minutes to get to Stirling Castle. This left us with only 1 hour to actually spend exploring the castle which frankly is simply not enough time.

Our guide did take us through the highlights of the castle and provided a lot of history but I really felt robbed of sufficient time to see this beautiful place. There were parts of it that we didn't get to at all due to time constraints and I felt really irritated when it took only an hour to get back to the port via the highway. They need to either find a faster country route, just go via the highway or lengthen the tour itself by an hour. It was also quite difficult to hear all of our guide's commentary as the audio system wasn't functioning properly. We missed a large portion of the context during our country drive as we had to struggle to hear her. That being said, the castle is not to be missed if you are in this area. The castle itself is in wonderful condition and the views are breathtaking.

There was also shopping set up in the cruise terminal for us which was nice given that by the time we got back to port it had begun to rain very lightly and walking into town became unappealing - it was also Sunday and we weren't sure how late the shops would be open. We were able to pick up some lovely souvenirs here (tea towels, decor and wool blanket) and get back on the ship in short order. This was the only port where we had a light smattering of rain, which of course, being the British Isles in May we had anticipated we would experience more of.

Dublin: Anyone who looks at my cruise signature can see that I am not line loyal. I have had really good cruises on Princess,Carnival, NCL, Celebrity and Royal so when I look at booking a cruise, I don't ever feel constrained by looking at one line exclusively. This hurts me in terms of my Crown & Anchor standing of course but I book cruises based on itinerary, ship and cost. When my wonderful mother told me that hubby and I should plan on doing a British Isles cruise and her and my dad would watch my four kids for two weeks, I was reluctant. That's a long time to be away from your home and into routine of your grandchildren. But she knows me well and knew that once I started researching options I would be drawn in. The overnight and two days in Dublin is what sealed the deal on this cruise versus the two other options we were considering with other lines. My father in law is from Dublin so this stop was very important to us, my husband in particular. This lovely city did not disappoint.

We were ported right in Dublin but it is a very active and industrial port. We decided to walk into town as I had pre-purchased "The Dublin Pass" for our first day and had a number of activities we wanted to get crossed off our list.They had brought two lovely gents on board to provide maps and directions and one had warned us that it was about a hour to get to the core area where the ship shuttle (I believe it was $19 pp for the day) was dropping off. He wasn't wrong- but again the weather was in our favour and we had a lovely walk and finally found our way to Trinity College area (despite a serious lack of street signage) and were able to catch the hop-on-hop-off bus that was included with our pass.

We caught the next bus that came and got a tour and history of the city and during the remainder of the day we were able to visit the Guinness Storehouse, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christchurch Cathedral,spend a few minutes at - and then decide not to go into due to time constraints- Dublin Castle and then finally the Jamieson Experience at Bow Street, which we hadn't planned on doing but it was later in the day and one of the things that was still open. All of the above places (with the exception of Dublin Castle - since we didn't go in, I can't comment) were well worth the time invested. The Guinness Storehouse was just cool and we had a fun time moving through the floors of the exhibit and also had a lovely lunch here.

St.Patrick's is absolutely gorgeous and we regretted that we had missed an official tour to get some of the history of what we were seeing. Well worth it anyhow. Christchurch was also quite beautiful and the tombs in particular are well worth a visit. Jamieson was a neat little bonus as this was the location that John Jamieson originally set up the distillery but production has since been moved to outside Cork. This experience was included in our pass so we figured we'd pop in and see if we could get a tour and we were able to catch the second last one of the night. It was actually quite neat even though neither of us are whiskey drinkers and we had a fun time. Hubby and I really appreciated the tasting room where you compare Irish, Scottish and American whiskeys - as non-whiskey drinkers it was very interesting to compare them all side-by-side.

We were able to catch the last HOHO bus of the day at the stop nearest the Jamieson experience and made our way back to the Temple Bar district for dinner. We wandered a bit before finally settling on a pub in the area and had a lovely Irish meal with a few more pints of Guinness for good measure. The food was good, the Guinness was cold and the live entertainment did not disappoint.

We had already agreed that we would not be walking back to the ship from the Temple Bar area and even though it was still early by some standards, by 10:00 pm we were ready to head back. We simply crossed the Liffey by foot and bought tram tickets that would take us as close to the port as public transit would allow. It was a quick ride to the end of the line which dumped us out in front of the arena where the Bryan Adams concert was letting out. As a sidebar, he is one of my favourite artists and my hubby and I could not believe it when we saw concert posters that morning advertising his show that night. What are the chances I would be half way across the world and my favourite musical artist is playing a show in an arena about 20 minutes away from our ship? We were able to get back to the ship in about 20 minutes from the tram stop and in hindsight, I would plan on taking it into town if I were to go back to Dublin via cruise ship. I believe it was 2.50 euro each and well worth it to cut down on walking time to city central.

For our second day in Dublin we had booked the "Smithwick's Small Group Experience" which we absolutely loved. There was a group of 15 of us and we boarded a small bus and headed out to Kilkenny which turned out to be an absolutely charming spot. The bus ride took us through Dublin proper in the middle of rush hour which took quite a while but the guide on board gave us loads of history and cultural commentary so we got some additional enrichment even though we were effectively stuck in rush hour traffic. Once we cleared the city we were doing highway driving through the Irish countryside which as expected is quite green and quite lovely.

The Smithwick's tour was a guided one where a young lad took us through the experience and did a great job. Similar to the Heineken experience, we were able to try wort which they claim is and there were good nutritious and they had mutli-media to give us the history of the brewery. We ended, as all distillery/brewery tours do, in the bar where we were able to get a sample.Also waiting for us were bags with our names on them. I took a quick peek and was happy to report to hubby that they were glasses (he was buying two from every other distillery so at least here we were off the hook). I had forgotten but these were included in the price of our tour. Even better.... hubby noticed when we got home and I washed them that they had our full names engraved on them. Very cool - and also, good thing I grabbed the right bag.

When finished at Smitwick's, our tour guide had us follow her to a nearby castle and we were given just over an hour in Kilkenny to do whatever we pleased with instructions to meet back where we were left. Hubby and I decided that we really couldn't wait until 4:00 for lunch back at the ship so we stopped into a little pub to grab a bite to eat and then spent the rest of the time doing some browsing before loading up and heading back to the ship. We were very happy that we elected to get outside Dublin and see some more or Ireland on this second day in port. Kilkenny is very charming and well worth the trip.

Holyhead, Wales: Here we had booked the"Historic Beaumaris & Castle" tour and were very pleased with this choice. It was another beautiful day and we were given lots of time in this charming town. Our tour guide took us into the Beaumaris Castle which was really neat and had beautiful views (pastoral to one side, town to one side and sea to the other). There was one section we couldn't explore as it is under restoration efforts but there was still so much exploring in this castle that we spent over an hour just checking out various nooks and crannies.

We then had more than an hour of free time and decided to walk down to the beach to take in the beauty of the sea views, did some souvenir shopping and had a delicious ice cream cone before meeting up with the guide and tour bus. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Beaumaris and wouldn't hesitate to visit again. This little taste of Wales made us decide to put coming back to Wales on day on our bucket list.

Cobh/Cork: In this port we booked the"Cork City & Irish Whiskey" tour and enjoyed this as well. We started the day off by getting off the ship ahead of our tour meeting time and walking into town for a little bit of sight-seeing and shopping. Unfortunately, we really didn't have as much time as we would have liked but planned to explore further when we got back from our tour.

The tour bus first took us into Cork city centre for a very informative look at the city and its history. After this extensive tour through Cork we were then taken to the current home of Jamieson Irish Whiskey to have a tour. We had considered changing this tour after we ended up at the Jamieson Dublin location but decided in the end to keep this one and we're glad that we did. Although this isn't where Jamieson Whiskey originally was distilled, the site is the current home of the whiskey and also has a storied history of other brewers in its background.

This tour was quite different from the Dublin location in that a guide took us through all the old historic buildings explaining their history and the original process for distilling (new facilities are on site but off limits to the public on this tour) and it was very well done. As in Dublin, the tour has a comparative whiskey tasting, but unlike in Dublin, only 8 members of the tour group are invited to participate. As hubby and I had already done it in Dublin we didn't put our hands up when asked who wanted to participate but I thought this was pretty silly. They should either offer it to all on the tour or no one. We had found this to be a very interesting part of the tour in Dublin as non-Whiskey drinkers. The guide said on her first day that a fight broke out over who would do the taste test. They shouldn't even be put in that position. Anyhow, we were left with about half an hour in the bar area and gift shop to enjoy our included sample, grab a bite at the restaurant or use the facilities before loading back up on the bus and returning to the ship.

As it turns out I had the wrong tour time info banging around in my head and thought we would have a few hours back in Cobh but we only had about half an hour left before our all-aboard time so we decided to pop into the shopping available at the pier and picked up a few souvenirs here before heading back to the ship and finding a nice spot from which to enjoy another beautiful sail away.

St. Peter Port, Channel Islands: Tender port. This port was really interesting. The good: it was a really neat island and quite charming.The bad: RCI was extremely disorganized and didn't seem to know what they were doing.

We tendered in no problem because we had booked and RCI tour (Guernsey Island Drive) but we heard a lot of other people without booked tours say there were issues with getting off the ship that morning. Not sure what the full story is there but I guess there was a backlog or delay. We heard from some locals on land that the Royal Princess had also been scheduled that day but for whatever reason they had decided not to stop. The lady I was chatting with said that they had prepared for 6,000 but were only getting 2,000. This might had disrupted some of the other shore excursions as I heard a few people complaining that evening that their excursions hadn't left on time or had been cut short.

Our ticket said simply to meet on shore and this didn't go well. We were an hour early for our tour and determined that for the first time, we would not be at the back of the bus. It just always seemed to shake out that we were always at the back of the bus and this time around, we wanted to move up. I asked a disheveled looking excursions rep where we should wait for our particular tour. He gave us a sticker and told us to wait "right here,"indicating the area where you arrive after you exit the tenders. Then he disappeared and I never saw another excursion or RCI rep again. So we waited... and waited... and waited... finally, it's about five minutes before the tour is supposed to leave and there are only about 6 of us hanging around still waiting as directed. One half of a couple waiting with us wanders around the restaurant and comes back telling us that they are loading the bus up around the corner! Well this would have been really nice to know at the outset. One of the first people on land for the tour waiting around in apparently the wrong area only to end up being one of the last on the bus yet again. Super frustrating. This could have been improved by having tours meet on the ship,given our stickers and tender out together like we did in Edinburgh.

Anyhow, the tour itself was good. It gave you a good appreciation for and flavour of this neat island with a few stops on the way. Our guide was very good -although I was miffed that he waited to tell us after we had stopped that the goldsmith we had just been visiting is world-famous and has done pieces for the Royal family and the Pope. I would have looked more seriously if I had known that before getting off the bus. As it was I took a quick look and then went to get a scone at the cafe (which was delicious and no doubt much cheaper for hubby than a piece of jewelery would have been).

After some more sightseeing, we were delivered back to the pier and I inwardly groaned when I saw the lineup of people waiting to tender back to the ship. It was huge. That's unfortunately part and parcel of the tendering process so although I had hoped it would be fairly quick to get back to the ship, the queue did take about an hour. Significantly more frustrating though was that as we were waiting for the tender ahead of us to finish disembarking their guests, the tender that loaded up after us passed us and were allowed to disembark ahead of us. People were very upset. We had just waited an hour and most of us were hungry for lunch as it was now pushing 3:30 (I was very grateful for that scone at this point). I didn't mind waiting for the tender but leaving us out there to bop around in the swells for an additional 15 minutes while the tender behind you gets unloaded ahead of you was absolutely galling. Very poor on the part of RCI to allow this.

Tender and excursion disorganization issues aside, it was still very much worth it to get off the ship at this port.

Dover, England: Our last day of the cruise and only stop in England proper. We booked the "Leeds Castle, Canterbury and Kent Scenic Drive" tour and enjoyed a fabulous day of sightseeing in good old jolly England. The port area alone afforded us good views of Dover castle and those infamous white cliffs so we managed to get some great shots from the ship itself. It was another glorious day and as it turns out, ended up getting very hot by afternoon (27 Celsius) and I don't mind saying that we were overdressed in jeans.

The tour guide gave us lots of tidbits of history of the region and various towns that we traveled through, including Sandwich, on our way to Canterbury. Our guide said that she was reversing the order of our tour because Leeds Castle didn't open until 10:00 and our tour began at 8:30. This change of order though meant that we were unable to get into the sanctuary of Canterbury Cathedral because it was Sunday morning and services were being held.

We were dropped off at a mall near the Cathedral and then our guide walked our group to the Cathedral gates. We were given two hours to explore on our own and although we couldn't access the sanctuary we were able to tour the grounds, the hall and the tombs which were well worth the effort. As this was a full day tour we also made sure to grab a sandwich for lunch during our free time in the shopping area around the Cathedral. We met back at the appointed time and boarded the bus for our trip to Leeds Castle.

Leeds Castle is an absolute must-do if you are in the area. It was extensively renovated in the 1970's and is in live-in ready condition. It was pretty neat to get a glimpse of how it may have looked during the time of Henry VIII and we thoroughly enjoyed our time here. If memory serves we had almost a full two hours here and we explored the gardens and the castle thoroughly but never made it to the maze at the back of the property. They were having some jousting on the day we were visiting (it was a long weekend with a Bank Holiday the next day) but unfortunately we did not get to stay long enough to see this. We did see dozens of tents set up with all manner of people dressed up in period costume undertaking various roles from noblemen and women, to archers and trades people.

It was a relatively expedient ride back to the ship from the castle and we enjoyed the scenery greatly as we came back into Dover. Dover itself didn't appear to be easily accessible from the port area by foot and given that we had already had a fairly full day, we elected to simply board and start the horrible task of packing but made sure to find a great spot on deck for a spectacular sail away.

DEBARKATION

As much as I generally dislike having to pack and leave the ship, I knew that 13 nights was a good length for us because I didn't feel sad about going home which I often do at the end of a typical 7-night cruise. I really enjoyed my time on board but I was ready to go back home to my real life and my kids.

Unfortunately, getting off the ship was as unpleasant as getting on and again I have to wonder if this is partially because of the limited time Royal spends at this port and therefore they don't have the routine down pat like they do in Florida.

Since we had an 11:55 am flight, I had pre-purchased a bus transfer through Royal before we left because I wanted to ensure that we would be at the airport in time. A surprise bonus was that once we put our luggage outside our stateroom for collection we wouldn't see it again until we arrived at the airport rather than having to locate it in the debarkation area and bring it to the bus ourselves.

They grouped us by flight departure time and we were assigned the third group to get off (ie. the first group was to meet at 7:15, the second at 7:30 and us at 7:45, etc). We showed up about 5 minutes before our appointed time to find the Pacifica theater fairly busy but we settled down to wait.

We perceived that people were getting very antsy as the time ticked away and yet no one was being told they could leave the ship. A few folks were now starting to yell and you could feel a lot of tension in the room. Finally one of the social activity girls made an announcement that began with "This isn't Royal Caribbean's fault." We were told that the buses were not ready and there were issues with Dutch customs. It was now past 8:00 am and I can only imagine how anxious the folks who had been asked to meet at the first meeting time must have been, no doubt worried about possibly missing their flights. The stress of waiting could have been managed significantly better if someone had communicated earlier about the delay. I have no idea why they would wait until tensions got so high before providing an update and also why they would only have one staff member on hand to deal with such a large amount of people.

About 15 minutes later they finally called the first group and after about 5 minutes the second. Shortly after that they called our group so we herded ourselves into the queue to get off the ship. The immigration line was slow moving as there were only two officers processing non-EU passports and one officer handling the empty EU passport line. Once through we quickly boarded a bus and waited about 10 minutes for it to fill before heading out to the airport.

The drive itself was hampered by Monday morning rush hour traffic but eventually we did arrive at the airport only to have to wait in the bus for at least a half hour waiting for a proper spot to pull into so that we could unload. Turns out the drop off area only had two designated spots and a long line of buses wanting to use those spots. During this wait, people on the bus started to get very angry and were yelling at the driver to let us out at the curb. Eventually the driver made an announcement that the police would not allow us to unload anywhere but the designated spots so we had to wait. A few folks were very concerned about missing their flights at this point as it was now nearing 10:00 am. Finally it was our turn to unload and we were able to quickly locate our bags at the curb and able to check into our flight, drop off our bags and get through security in about a half hour's time.

Certainly not the best debarkation experience and I felt that Royal could have handled it better on the outset by providing better and ongoing communication about the delay in getting off the ship. They might also want to investigate a better way to deliver people to the airport given the excessive delay we experienced in getting off the bus.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My husband and I approach every trip with enthusiasm and recognize that things may go wrong or not be as we expect. We always like to remind ourselves that w ehave the good fortune to be able to travel and roll with the punches so to speak. Aside from a few minor inconveniences and annoyances, we both felt that this trip was pretty close to perfect. The weather was fabulous (lots and lots of sunshine, but more importantly no real rain to speak of) and the seas were incredibly smooth. For most of the cruise we were going fairly slow and even on the last two nights when we were pushing 20 knots it was extremely smooth.

Having the Brilliance do this itinerary is a good choice as the ship allows for beautiful views thanks to that fabulous wall of glass in the Centrum and it felt like the right ship with the right amenities for this part of the world.We were very comfortable with this ship and really enjoyed discovering the spots that would be our favourite little places throughout the cruise.

We both really enjoyed the food and the entertainment, and felt that the staff on board did a great job ensuring that everyone was enjoying themselves. Except for the last evening (no surprise here), I very rarely saw anyone at Guest Services so I hope that means others were enjoying themselves as much as we did.

This is a great itinerary if you're curious to see some of Ireland and the UK without committing to spending a week or two there on a land vacation. It definitely gave us a good feel for the places we saw and also a road map for where we are interesting in spending more time in the future.

All in all, we agreed that this was our favourite trip to date and look forward to many more.

I neglected to mention that we had to surrender our passports on the first day of the cruise and collected them on the next sea day once they had been inspected and stamped by Scottish and Irish immigration.

Excellent review! We went on a Celebrity British Isles cruise a few years ago and it brought back lots of great memories. If it's any consolation, our experience in St. Peter Port was equally disorganized. We also were stuck at the back of the van and I had a terrible time seeing all the sights.

DEBARKATION

 

Since we had an 11:55 am flight, I had pre-purchased a bus transfer through Royal before we left because I wanted to ensure that we would be at the airport in time. A surprise bonus was that once we put our luggage outside our stateroom for collection we wouldn't see it again until we arrived at the airport rather than having to locate it in the debarkation area and bring it to the bus ourselves.

Hey Jill. Does it matter what airline you fly with? Did RCL ask you, or just did they just ensure your luggage got on the right bus, so that when you got to the airport you collected your luggage from the bus?

A few folks were very concerned about missing their flights at this point as it was now nearing 10:00 am. Finally it was our turn to unload and we were able to quickly locate our bags at the curb and able to check into our flight, drop off our bags and get through security in about a half hour's time.

My flight is 12:50pm. How much time did you have when you finally got to your gate?

I'm solo, so I'm thinking weather permitting just simply self-disembarking and walking back to Centraal and taking the airport train. Any thoughts on that idea?

THE PORTS

Edinburgh: Tender port. They were using both larger local boats as well as the ship's tender boats to get us to shore. We met in the Pacifica where we would show our ticket, get a sticker for our tour group and then wait to be told to proceed ashore as a group.

On the June 21 sailing we're due to arrive 7am. Did Brilliance arrive at that time on your sailing? What time did you meet at Pacifica? And did you get wind that there were many tenders before yours? Often RCL excursions do not start that early, and thus the first few tenders are much emptier, allowing do-it-yourselfers off the ship right away if they're ready. Did you notice if this was the case?

Inverness/Loch Ness:

What time did you dock and get allowed off the ship here?

I have set up a private group tour for our sailing, and from experience have seen the ship get to port much earlier than posted. Did Brilliance get to most ports on time as well, or simply at the right time?

Hey Jill. Does it matter what airline you fly with? Did RCL ask you, or just did they just ensure your luggage got on the right bus, so that when you got to the airport you collected your luggage from the bus?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My flight is 12:50pm. How much time did you have when you finally got to your gate?

 

I'm solo, so I'm thinking weather permitting just simply self-disembarking and walking back to Centraal and taking the airport train. Any thoughts on that idea?

We flew with Air Canada. When I phoned to book the shuttle pre-cruise, I was asked for my departing flight number, airline and departure time. They used this info to provide us with our “meet in the theatre” time. We were on a shuttle with people flying with several different airlines and all departures were from the same terminal. The luggage had been transported by truck separately from our bus and was waiting at the curb, grouped by our “tour number” outside the entrance to the terminal where we disembarked the bus (in our case luggage tag #12).

Our flight was 11:55 and by the time we finally cleared check in, security and customs we had just over an hour before departure. If the weather is agreeable I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t take the train. Given the number of delays we experienced (wait on ship, stuck in traffic and waiting on the bus), you are likely to get there far faster than we did! As long as you can comfortably manage your bags, I think it would be very expedient and affordable. Hopefully someone who had done it can chime in!

Happy cruising!

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On the June 21 sailing we're due to arrive 7am. Did Brilliance arrive at that time on your sailing? What time did you meet at Pacifica? And did you get wind that there were many tenders before yours? Often RCL excursions do not start that early, and thus the first few tenders are much emptier, allowing do-it-yourselfers off the ship right away if they're ready. Did you notice if this was the case?

 

 

 

What time did you dock and get allowed off the ship here?

 

I have set up a private group tour for our sailing, and from experience have seen the ship get to port much earlier than posted. Did Brilliance get to most ports on time as well, or simply at the right time?

We did indeed arrive at 7. Our tour met in the Pacifica at 8:15. Looking back at the cruise compass there is a notation that the busiest time to go ashore is between 7:30 and 9:30. We likely didn’t board until around 8:30 so I’m sure that several tenders were ahead of us. Can’t speak to how busy the ones ahead of us were but ours was full, as was the one going to Guernsey (and I heard there were a lot of delays).

We were scheduled to arrive in Inverness at 9:00 am. Our shore excursion meet time was 9:30 in the theatre and we were definitely docked by the time we went for breakfast at 8:45.

I believe that for the most part we were docked earlier than expected but can’t say if that translated into us actually being cleared to leave the ship earlier than anticipated.

Enjoy your cruise!

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Thanks for all the info. We are on the June 21 sailing and I have one question. Since Amsterdam is one hour different than the UK ports, did the ship change time? I’ll admit to being one of those who gets confused if ship time and port time are not the same.

Thanks!

Thanks for all the info. We are on the June 21 sailing and I have one question. Since Amsterdam is one hour different than the UK ports, did the ship change time? I’ll admit to being one of those who gets confused if ship time and port time are not the same.

 

Thanks!

Hi there.

Yes, we were asked to change from Amsterdam time to UK time the first night of the cruise. We then had to move the clock ahead one hour on the last evening so we would be on local time when we were up in the morning.

At first, I couldn't figure out that why we had to put our luggage out at 10:00 pm (and hour earlier than all my previous cruises) until I realized that 10:00 was 11:00 pm local Amsterdam.

Ship and port time will match once you make the change.

Thank you so much for this! We are also on the June 21st sailing. A couple questions: What time did you arrive for boarding? You mentioned the weather was nice...any advice for packing purposes? I'm sure I'll think of others!

Hi Jill,

Thank you for your great write-up. We are booked on a Baltic cruise in Aug of 2019. I know the itinerary is different but I really appreciate your info regarding Amsterdam and Brilliance. We have not booked flights yet as we are too far out but I'm finding prices to Amsterdam Airport to be very pricey so we are considering flying into Brussels and spending a few days there, then take a train into Amsterdam. (about 2 and half hrs according to Google Maps). But your write-up about Amsterdam has me reconsidering.

We also booked an interior room for the first time for the same reasons you mentioned - we are currently booked in #8025.

Your experience with embarkation/debarkation has me a bit worried but at least now, I'll know what to expect and take that into consideration when booking return flight departure time.

I have a few questions, were you seated at a large table in the MDR with other guests? What do you think the nationality mix was? The reason I ask is, we have booked the Chef's table for one night and a 3 night specialty dining package, but, as much as my wife and I get along (This cruise is for our 25th anniversary), I think 12 long dinner meals just the 2 of us might be a bit too much, so for our 8 remaning MDR dinners we are hoping to be seated with other cruisers and meet fellow world travelers. My wife and I are both bilingual (French, English), and hope that language will not be too much of a problem.

Thank you once again and I'm glad you had a great cruise.

dp

Jill K, thanks so much for your wonderful review! We will be on the Brillance this August for the Baltic leg, and I also have a couple of questions for you.

#1 - How cold was it in the dining room, theater, public areas? Our last Caribbean cruise felt a bit over-airconditioned. I had brought some cute sleeveless evening things for formal wear, dinner, etc. -- but no one could see them because I was freezing & had to wear either sweaters or jackets over them.

#2 - Mini fridge in the cabin: is it stocked & can you have the cabin steward remove those things so you can put your own items in the fridge?

#3 - Is the cabin steward able to provide extra hangers? I like to hang my clothes so the wrinkles will fall out, and 4 or 5 hangers is just not enough.

#4 - How was the ship's coffee? I am debating about buying a coffee card as I am a Nespresso drinker at home. For port days: does the Brilliance have free room service in the morning for coffee/continental breakfast -- or will I need to go to Windjammer for a quick breakfast? On my last cruise the room service coffee was pretty bad, but was much better at the main dining room.

#5 - Also for port days, is it possible to get a late lunch or snack in the Windjammer (or elsewhere) if you return to the ship around 3-4pm? Some ships it can be difficult to find food between lunch & dinner.

Thanks again for all the GREAT information you are providing for us.

---- Rene

Thanks for the review! DW and I did a similar cruise on Vision a few years ago and would recommend this as one to try for people who are looking for something different than the Caribbean.

FYI: We had very similar stops and did a lot of touring on our own. Maybe it felt more familiar because DW has been to visit family in the UK many times, I'm not sure.

Would make one suggestion to to people who would like to see Loch Ness and don't care about the castle as much. We got a public bus to the Loch Ness tourist centre and bought tickets to see the loch by boat. Still got to see the castle, but from the water side.

Most of tugtraveller's questions are generic so perhaps I can answer:

1. Weather is generally colder around Northern UK, we had heat on most of the time on August cruise. Only days there was anyone outside in the pool was when we got back around to the Channel near Dover.

2. Mini-cooler (it's not as cold as fridge, if you care) are generally not stocked any more on any ship. When they were our SA wouldn't empty for us, so we just put everything in one of the storage spots.

3. Generally yes, but we bring out own. Takes up very little room in suitcase and I can pack some things "on the hangar" which speeds up unpacking.

4. All ships offer continental breakfast room service no charge. Not a coffee drinker, sorry.

5. I can't remember where on Brilliance, but every ship has some sort of a cafe that is open all day and serves sandwiches and pizza.

Great review, Jill! Thanks for taking the time to share it with us. My family and I are on the 6/21 sailing. My kids are older--16 and 20--but I am a little concerned now that there won't be anyone their ages on board! Hopefully since our cruise is a few weeks after yours schools will be out and there will be more families on board.

I am glad to hear that you thought your room location was good--our room is near where yours was but is a balcony room.

We booked many of the same ship excursions as you, so I am also glad to hear that you were pleased with them.

We were waffling about purchasing the BOGO specialty dinners for the first two nights, but after reading about your excellent meals I think we may have to do that now. :)

I was already very excited about our upcoming cruise and am every more excited after reading your review!!!:D

Jill: thanks for a great report. I read the first 3 reports but time is running short. We leave in 3 hours to fly to Amsterdam for the BOTS baltic and then BI) so I printed out to read while on our layover in Heathrow. But looked great and thank for posting.

Thank you so much for this! We are also on the June 21st sailing. A couple questions: What time did you arrive for boarding? You mentioned the weather was nice...any advice for packing purposes? I'm sure I'll think of others!

We were advised by Royal to arrive at noon and we were there dropping our luggage at 12:10.

As for packing.... well I would think that late June might be generally warmer than mid-May.... we only had one day (in Dover) when I didn't wear my sweater and felt overheated in jeans, running shoes and short sleeved shirt. The other days, it was a very nice spring day with moderate temperatures and two of the days in Scotland were on the cooler side as they were in the low teen to mid teens (Celsius). I saw lots of people on shore and around the ship in shorts, open sandals and t-shirts so for a late June cruise I would be tempted to pack both warmer and cooler clothes.

We were advised by Royal to arrive at noon and we were there dropping our luggage at 12:10.

 

As for packing.... well I would think that late June might be generally warmer than mid-May.... we only had one day (in Dover) when I didn't wear my sweater and felt overheated in jeans, running shoes and short sleeved shirt. The other days, it was a very nice spring day with moderate temperatures and two of the days in Scotland were on the cooler side as they were in the low teen to mid teens (Celsius). I saw lots of people on shore and around the ship in shorts, open sandals and t-shirts so for a late June cruise I would be tempted to pack both warmer and cooler clothes.

Good information!

I’m on the 6/21 sailing, and I had planned to pack more “winter” clothes - but I will re-think that now, and throw in some hotter weather clothing!

Great review - thank you SO much! This is very helpful for those of us who are hopping onboard in another 10 days - or even later this summer!

Great review Jill!! Thanks so much for all the info. We are flying AC on the same flights so your experience is very valuable! Just a quick question, do you recall if the Brillance had a “balloon drop” as this could be a health concern for me? Thanks for all the info you are providing!!

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Hi Jill,

Thank you for your great write-up. We are booked on a Baltic cruise in Aug of 2019. I know the itinerary is different but I really appreciate your info regarding Amsterdam and Brilliance. We have not booked flights yet as we are too far out but I'm finding prices to Amsterdam Airport to be very pricey so we are considering flying into Brussels and spending a few days there, then take a train into Amsterdam. (about 2 and half hrs according to Google Maps). But your write-up about Amsterdam has me reconsidering.

 

 

We also booked an interior room for the first time for the same reasons you mentioned - we are currently booked in #8025.

 

 

Your experience with embarkation/debarkation has me a bit worried but at least now, I'll know what to expect and take that into consideration when booking return flight departure time.

 

 

 

I have a few questions, were you seated at a large table in the MDR with other guests? What do you think the nationality mix was? The reason I ask is, we have booked the Chef's table for one night and a 3 night specialty dining package, but, as much as my wife and I get along (This cruise is for our 25th anniversary), I think 12 long dinner meals just the 2 of us might be a bit too much, so for our 8 remaning MDR dinners we are hoping to be seated with other cruisers and meet fellow world travelers. My wife and I are both bilingual (French, English), and hope that language will not be too much of a problem.

 

 

Thank you once again and I'm glad you had a great cruise.

 

 

dp

Hi! We also found the air to be pricey and the prices did go up as the date grew closer. In the end we used Aeroplan points but still had a $1100 tax bill. We saved 60% vs. paying full fare at the time we booked.

No doubt Brussels would also be lovely- I’m sure you can’t go wrong either way. I’ve never been so can only speak to how much we loved Amsterdam. We hope to return in the future.

We were seated at a table for two every night. We never asked to be seated on our own, though so if you have anytime dining and want to sit with a larger table, just tell them when you arrive. We enjoyed just being to the of us since at home dining conversation is dominated by our four children and we were really focussed on one another on this trip. We did meet lots of lovely people throughout the cruise through!

The majority of cruisers appeared to be from the U.S. with a large contingent of Canadians (so many of us in fact they threw a Canada party on May 24, appropriately enough). I did I occasionally hear other European languages (German, Dutch) but it was rare.

I’m sure you will enjoy your cruise!

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